UK police forces and vetting candidates

[andyoldlabour]

Today whilst searching the net, I came across the PEEL Spotlight report from 2019, which shines a light on the shortcomings of UK police forces. One area of concern was the vetting of candidates. We know that Wayne Couzens worked for the Kent based nuclear constabulary, then the Met, so you would expect vetting to be fairly rigorous for those jobs.
It probably wasn't according to the report.

"Too many people working in forces don’t have the correct vetting
We are still deeply concerned by the proportion of people working in forces who don’t have the correct vetting. We are also concerned that some forces can’t provide clear information on who is vetted, who isn’t and what roles they occupy. There can be no excuse for shortcuts.
All forces agreed national standards for vetting in 2006. They have had over a decade to make sure everyone has the correct vetting. Some forces are in a very strong position and have taken the necessary steps. Others have not.
The government has recently announced a recruitment drive for 20,000 police officers over the next three years. With natural wastage as people leave the service, this means many more will need to be recruited to meet this target. This makes it even more vital that vetting units are fit for purpose, or they won’t be able to cope with the demand and vetting standards may fall."

www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmicfrs/wp-content/uploads/peel-spotlight-report-abuse-of-position-for-a-sexual-purpose-1.pdf

Did he have an prior convictions?

It's more the culture that's the problem. Sexual banter, innuendos, black humour, playing down jokes..etc

And how about name and sex changes on documents, which apparently defeats DBS checks??

Did I read that he wasn’t vetted at all because of the need for more officers after the Paris attacks?

There was also the debt - would that be something that came up for a firearms officer? Or police in general?

Lack of vetting for that role is terrifying. I had no idea the situation was this bad.

@ItsRainingProstateOwners unmanageable debt is definitely a problem if you are in the police force - credit checks are supposed to be made. If you get a CCJ you are supposed to declare it if you already work for a police service. I don’t think you’d get in with a CCJ as it leaves you susceptible to being corrupted.

Wasn't there a Mitchell Report in 2012 after the conviction of Stephen Mitchell?

www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/jun/29/guardian-investigation-abuse-power-police

iirc, it was a good report with lots of recommendations that could still do with being implemented.

Going even further back, improved vetting etc. was discussed in the HMIC inspection report 2006 Raising the Standard: A thematic inspection of professional standards

www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/hmicfrs/media/raising-the-standard-full-report-20060530.pdf

There's no dearth of reports with good recommendations: we need the political will to implement those recommendations.

'Mitchell Report'

Each of the cases in this report represents a serious betrayal of the trust and confidence that individuals should have in the police. Together, they reveal a number of themes that underlie this kind of behaviour. They include the need to ensure robust standards of vetting, including for sensitive or vulnerable posts; provide effective supervision to identify worrying trends, ensure proper boundaries and respond to reported concerns; effectively use and manage intelligence; and review individual cases in order to identify lessons. The report includes a checklist of questions for the service as a whole and for individual forces.

The behaviour described in this report has parallels with abuses carried out by other professionals, such as those in healthcare and social work and the clergy. All are people who are in a privileged position of power – and trust – within society. In the context of the police service, however, this behaviour is also a form of corruption and it should be dealt with as such.

www.policeconduct.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Documents/research-learning/abuse_of_police_powers_to_perpetrate_sexual_violence.pdf

Couzens was also on duty at Parliament five times last year. I would have thought that demands extra levels of vetting?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58777685

Thanks @Whatthechicken. What’s a CCJ btw? I don’t know this area at all.

County Court Judgement - used in cases of unpaid debt.

www.gov.uk/county-court-judgments-ccj-for-debt

County court judgement. All staff and volunteers have to be vetted too. I think levels of vetting are much more stringent for firearms and other specialised areas. I was police staff, and financial checks, and checks into my family and background were made as well as the dbs. The checks should be made regularly, though when I was there I don’t think they had been, but I’m not sure how often.

The other thing to remember about vetting is that the information you get back on someone - is only as good as the information that was inputted in the first place. I’m sure Systems have improved, but I know poor data entry/human mistakes caused some real headaches in forces years ago.

Thank you.